Receive the latest local updates in your inbox

NBC 6's Jamie Guirola has the details of a new study that says two Miami-Dade School districts are underperforming students. (Published Wednesday, Aug 20, 2014)

Updated at 11:38 PM EDT on Wednesday, Aug 20, 2014

A new study from the National Council on Teacher Equity of the nine Miami-Dade Public School Districts says two are providing the least experienced and least effective teachers.

“It’s a hard, hard job,” said Nancy Waymack of the National Council on Teacher Equity. “They’re not coming and going because it’s an easy place to be. So certainly teachers in those schools need support and they need to know they’re gonna have that support.”

The districts in question are District One and Two. Both have more African-American students and more low-income students than anywhere else in the county. The study said as a result, students are being shortchanged a quality education at Carol City, Norland Senior, North Miami, Central, Edison, Jackson, Northwestern, and Booker T. Washington High Schools.

The study also said teachers in Districts One and Two also have a higher turnover and are absent more.

“Since that time, we’ve already understood and recognized the need to increase our teacher retention rates in particular at our most fragile schools and we’ve seen a dramatic increase with the teachers that are staying,” said Pablo Ortiz of Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

The president of the Miami-Dade teachers union also said that during the first week of the new school year, the focus should be only on that.

“I think our teachers are working really, really hard, be they novice teachers or experienced teachers. It takes a combination of everybody to make this school,” said Frederick Ingram of the United Teachers of Dade.

Published at 11:30 PM EDT on Aug 20, 2014

News breaks at inconvenient times. Download one of the NBC6 mobile apps and have the news come to you. Watch live streaming newscasts, receive critical push notifications on the go and stay in touch with your city around the clock.